LAND ACQUISITION ACT, 1894

(1 OF 1894)

 

[2nd February, 1894]

 

An Act to amend the law for the acquisition of land for public purposes and for Companies

 

 

PART I

 

Preliminary

 

3. Definitions : In this Act, unless there is something repugnant in the subject or context,‑‑

 

(a)        the expression "land" includes benefits to arise out of land, and things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth;

 

(b)        the expression "person interested" includes all persons claiming and interested in compensation to be made on account of the acquisition of land under this Act; and a person shall be deemed to be interested in land if he is interested in an easement affecting the land;

 

(c)        the expression "Collector" means the Collector of a district, and includes a Deputy Commissioner and any officer specially appointed by the Provincial Government to perform the functions of a Collector under this Act;

 

(d)        the expression "Court" means a principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction, unless the Provincial Government has appointed (as it is hereby empowered to do) a special judicial officer within any specified local limits to perform the functions of the Court under this Act;,

 

(e)        the expression "Company" means a Company registered under the Companies Act, 1882, or under the (English) Companies Acts, 1862 to 1890, or incorporated by an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom or by any Pakistan law, or by a Royal Charter or Letters patent and includes a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, and a registered society, within the meaning of the Co‑operative Societies Act, 1912;

 

(f)         the expression "public purpose" includes the provision of village‑sites in districts in which the Provincial Government shall have declared by notification in the official Gazette that it is customary for the Government to make such provision; and

 

(g)        the following persons shall be deemed persons "entitled to act" as and to the extent hereinafter provided (that is to say)‑‑‑

 

Trustees for other persons beneficially interested shall be deemed the persons entitled to act with reference to any such case, and that to the same extent as the persons beneficially interested could have acted if free from disability:

 

a married woman, in cases to which the English law is applicable, shall be deemed the person so entitled to act, and whether of full age or not, to the same extent as if she were unmarried and of full age; and

 

the guardians of minors and the committees or Managers of lunatics or idiots shall be deemed respectively the persons so entitled to act, the same extent as the minors, lunatics or idiots themselves, if free from disability, could have acted:

 

Provided that‑‑‑‑

 

(i)         no person shall be deemed "entitled to act" whose interest in the subject‑matter shall be shown to the satisfaction of the Collector or Court to be adverse to the interest of the person interested for whom he would otherwise be entitled to act:

 

(ii)        in every such case the person interested may appear by a next friend or, in default of his appearance by a next friend, the Collector or Court, as the case may be, shall appoint a guardian for the case to act on his behalf in the conduct thereof;

 

(iii)       the provisions of Order XXXII of the Code of Civil Procedure shall, mutatis mutandis, apply in the case of persons interested appearing before a Collector or Court by a next friend, or by a guardian for the cases, in proceedings under this Act; and

 

(iv)       no person "entitled to act" shall be competent to receive the ::ompensation‑money payable to the person for, whom he is entitled to act unless he would have been competent to alienate the land and receive and give a good discharge for the 'purchase‑money on a voluntary sale.

 

 

PROVINCIAL AMENDMENTS

 

West Pakistan:

 

For the existing Clause (d), the following clause shall be substituted namely:

 

subs by the Land Acquisition (W.P Amendment) Ordinance, 1969.

 

"(d) the expression "Court" means a principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction, and includes the Court of any Additional District Judge and any Civil Judge whom the Provincial Government may appoint, by name or by virtue of his office, to perform concurrently with any such principal Civil Court, all or any of the functions of the Court under this Act, within any specified area; provided that in the case of a Civil Judge such functions shall be exercised only up to‑the limit§ of his pecuniary jurisdiction".

 

Islamabad Capital Territory:

 

[In Section 3‑‑‑

 

Subs. by the Federal Laws (Revision and Declaration) Ordinance, XXVII of 1981.

 

(a)        in clause (e) for the words"an Pakistan law" the words "a Pakistan law" shall be substituted; and

 

(b)        in clause (g),‑‑‑

 

(i)         after the word and semi‑colon "disability;", the word "and" shall be added;

 

(ii)        the words, commas and semi‑colon "a married woman, in cases to which the English law is applicable, shall be deemed the person so entitled to act, and whether of full age or not, to the same extent as if she were unmarried and of full age; and" shall be omitted; and

 

(iii)       in the proviso, in clause (iii), for the words and figure "Chapter XXXI of the Code of Civil Procedure" the words, figure, commas and brackets "Order XXXII, of the First Schedule to the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Act V of 1908)", shall be substituted.

 

Punjab:

 

After clause (e) of Section 3 the following shall be deemed to be inserted, namely

 

Ins. by the Punjab Town Improvement Act, IV of 1922, S. 59 and Schedule CI. (1).

 

"(ee) the expression "local authority" includes a Trust constituted under the Punjab Town Improvement Act, 1922".

 

Clause (f) shall be deemed to have been modified so as to read as follows:

 

"(f) the expression "public purpose" includes‑‑

 

(1)        The provision of village sites in districts in which the Provincial Government shall have declared by notification in the official Gazette that it is customary for the Government to make such provision

 

(2) Soil reclamation carried out under the Punjab Soil Reclamation Act, 1952.

 

Ins. by the Punjab Soil Reclamation Act, XXI of 1952.

 

The fill‑stop at tree end of clause (g) shall be replaced by a colon and the following clauses shall be deemed to have been added after clause (g):‑‑‑

 

(h)        "board", means the Punjab Soil Reclamation Board appointed under the Punjab Soil Reclamation Act, 1952 ;

 

(i)         "net income", shall mean the income from the land after deducting therefrom the ordinary expenses of cultivation, land revenue, rates and cesses ; and

 

(j)         "rates and cesses" have the same meaning as given in Section 3(9) of the Land Revenue Act, 1887".

 

[After clause (g) in Section 3 of the Act, the following shall be deemed to be added];

 

Ins. by the Thal Development Act, XV of 1949.

 

(h)        "Authority" shall mean the Thal Development Authority appointed under the Thai Development Act, 1949.

 

(i)         `Net income' from land shall mean the net assets or the landlord's share, as assumed by the Settlement Officer for the same class of land in the same assessment Circle, during the Settlement subject to a deduction of 25 per cent on account of land revenue, cesses, collection charges and other dues:

 

Provided that in the case of such land as has not borne at least four harvests during "the four years immediately preceding the date of the publication of the first notice under Section 22 .of the Thal Development Act, 1949, or the date of notification under Section. 36 of that Act whichever is earlier, .the "net income" shall mean one‑third of the net assets or the landlord's share as assumed at the last Settlement for Barani land in the same Assessment Circle during the last Settlement subject to a deduction of 26 per cent on account of land revenue, cesses, collection charges and other dues.

 

(j)"rates and cesses" have the same meaning as given in Section 3(9) of the Land Revenue Act, 1887.

 

Sind :

 

After clause (e), clause (ee) has been added:

 

Ins. by the Karachi Development Authority Order, P.O. 5 of 1957.

 

(ee) the expression `local authority' includes in it the Karachi Development Authority, established under Article 3 of the Karachi Development Authority Order, 1957".